It was good to see Wallace Baxter back to his best with some stunning photographs entered in our PDI2 competition. Judge Martin Pickles is well known for his constructive critique and thoughtful judging style and we certainly set him a challenge.
In the Colour General section Wallace took the first and second positions with his dramatic canoeist ‘Evie Lancaster’ and motor biker ‘Richard Kerr’. Martin appreciated Wallace’s low viewpoint in both, to make the sports people more imposing. Both were tightly cropped and had good eye contact. Martin told us the action photos ticked all of the boxes with a good backgrounds, strong composition and sharp details. Stephen Coyne’s portrait ‘Girl with pearl earing’ scored 19. Martin thought it was a classic pose with good side modelling light and natural skin tones. Ian Whiston showed us he can also take a good portrait with his ‘The Glance’ which scored 18. Another portrait, ‘Erica with flowers and wings’, this time by Keith Mulliner also scored 18. While Wallace’s creative composite ‘Sisters’ was another 18.
The Mono section saw Paul Hill’s atmospheric ‘Beach Dog Walk’ take top marks. Martin thought it was a pleasing minimalistic image which was well composed with the bird balancing the walker and dog. Stephen Coyne’s dramatic ‘Arctic Scene’ scored 19. Martin told us the strong side lighting made this picture successful. It gave it texture, contrast and fine detail. Wallace was in the points again and scored 19 for his picture of canoeist ‘Emma Wallace’. Martin liked the tight crop and strong eye contact. Keith Mulliner’s nude ‘The Lady likes pearls’ was awarded 18. Martin liked the pose, the position of the hands and detail in the hair and that it was well lit. Another of Wallace’s excellent motorbike pictures scored 18. Martin though Wallace did well to capture this in the rain. The weather added to the drama and it was technically excellent.
There were 18 PDIs in the high-quality Nature section. Ian Whiston once again won the section with his ‘Nest building Village Weaver’ which was taken in Chester Zoo! Martin liked to see the bird doing something. It had a plain background and plenty of detail in its feathers. Keith Mulliner’s ‘Gyrfalcon looking who’s about’ scored 19. Again, Martin liked high quality of the well-lit image and the way it was looking out of the frame. Paul Hill also scored 19 for his portrait of a ‘Atlantic Puffin calling’. Martin told us he enjoyed the textured detail in feathers and eye of the bird. Ray Hill’s relaxing ‘Heron Evening Rest’ scored 18. Martin told us it was a natural environment with warm atmospheric evening light which gave the texture and detail.
All of those images can be seen in the slideshow above. All the results can be seen in our Results page.